The value add of a project manager tends to be missed if you do a good job and everything goes smoothly. If a project was a one-year international road trip, the project manager:
- Maps out the entire journey
- Foresees problems along the way e.g. forest fires resulting in road closures, bad weather necessitating slower speeds, illness of the passengers (team members) resulting in extended stay in a town en route, accidents needing emergency medical help, running out of gas, vehicle breakdown, getting lost, unmapped terrain, etc.
- Comes up with contingency plans for all the things that could go wrong e.g. detours, alternate routes, additional time in case of bad weather, first aid kit, medicines, medical insurance, vehicle insurance, multiple maps and GPS, additional budget.
If nothing goes wrong, it could be perceived that the project manager didn’t contribute much.
If something went wrong but it was relatively painless due to excellent contingency planning, the project manager again could be perceived as not adding much value.
Why? Because people generally need to experience things going wrong and feel the pain of the lack of contingency planning, then they appreciate the person who rescues them.
If people don’t see the value add of project management, it is because it is hidden.
So what can project managers do?
Include a slide for risks averted in every project status update and a risk averted report during project closure. List down all the risks that materialized but for which the pain was not felt due to good contingency planning.
After all, you already perform a lot of project communications and it’s your responsibility to highlight your value add. So do yourself a favour and add one more slide to your project status reports to communicate your value add.
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